matchbox20 Articles & Interviews

Articles & Interviews

Here are some links to some awesome arcticles & interviews all about the Matchsticks! Check 'em out! People Online - Rob and Paul. What does Rob *really* think about being one of Poeple's 50 most beautiful people?? Find out here. An Aussie Radio Interview - featuring Kyle and Pauly!! They cover everything - form the various lawsuits, to their pre-show meditiaions!!
Rock Reporter - A really good arcticle with Rob!

Las Vegas Review - Journal - all about Rob's influences

Freep - Guess What?? Another Interview with Rob!!

Lowdownet - a review of the band, and an interivew with Rob

USA Today - get the scoop on Rob's childhood...

Spin - Rob and Paul are just fooling around for this one...

MTV - find out how they came up with the name 'Matchbox 20' - - - from the mtv news archive - incl. quicktime movies

Buzzine - a great interview with Paul - with real audio clips

Entertainment Avenue - really get to know the Matchsticks - - they answer some really random questions!

Spank - an interview with Rob over hamburgers from Wendy's

Jam - a great article covering everything form their shoe sizes to how the band was formed

CircleCity.com - an article all about Kyle! ;o)

Rolling Stone - What determines a "One Hit Wonder" ?

MTV - the Matchsticks say there's no need to explain the lyrics

Wall of Sound - an article all about Rob's greedy ex

Rolling Stone Online - another article on the "Push controversy"

The Salt Lake Tribune - a great interview with the band

MS0 - an article all about the music

Kinky Interview - Great pictures!! a very *Kinky* one with Rob and Brain!!

Earwig - MY FAVE MB20 INTERVIEW! Rob & Paul talk about what it's like to be a Matchstick...

........................ Critics, Schmitics: matchbox20 Members Say The Notices That Matter Are Those From Their Millions Of Fans...
     Who are all those people buying the debut album by rock band matchbox20? You know, that album, Yourself or Someone Like You, that's requiring a McDonalds type bean counter to tally the millions and millions served?
     Let's let Rob Thomas, MB20's singer and main songwriter, tell about some of the band's fans. "I'm sitting here with a polaroid of me and Trisha Yearwood," Thomas says during a phone conversation before a concert in Pensacola, FL. "She loves us. You wouldn't expect that, this big country star. She was like, giddy. Of course I was giddy. I was like 'Oh my gosh-
Trisha Yearwood.'"
     Then came the incident two weeks ago at the AMA's. "The guy from Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony walked past us and said, 'You guys got a really good record, you guys are good.' Thomas recalls, "You dont expect that...to happen."
     Well, maybe you should when your no-frills but edgy, semi-rootsy-rock album has sold 3 million copies and is quickly approaching 4 mil.( it's now certifed 5 million )Maybe you should when your album has been on the Billboard's best-seller charts for an amazing 45 weeks, while albums from such heavy hitters as U2 and Rolling Stones, came and went in a lightning flash. Maybe you should when such hits as "Push", "3am", and "Long day" have sprawled across radio and MTV like so much sonic and video kudzu. Maybe you should when your concert at the Ryman on Monday is Sold Out.
     Thomas says that the band isn't upset by critics barbs, and his happy-go-lucky tone of voice convinces you he means it. "It's like a test from God, the Great-Spirit or whoever you are praying to these days, to see if you are an asshole or not." He says. "If you sell going on 4 million records and you have fans and people supporting you, and you and your friends and family are healthy - if a couple of critics don't like you, you have to be a real jerk to be offended and start going, 'Man, my life is shit. I can't believe I dont get any respect.' "

mb20 on the cover of Launch Interactive Magazine

     But Thomas is clearly miffed that the controversy over the song "Push"
continues. He's repeatedly said that the lyrics dont refer to physical violence,
that anyone who listens closely can tell that the song explores the manipulation
and emotional violence of a bad relationship.
     Still "Time" magazine called us and Prodigy two of the worst records of the
year because it was misogynistic rock." Thomas says. "It really upset me
because if you are not going to like us because you think we suck, that's one
thing. But to say that we are one of the worst bands becaue we're misogynistic
rock? That means one, you didn't listen to our whole record. Two, you didn't
actually listen to the one song you heard. It's uninformed opinion. Critics have
the responsibilty to be
informed."
     In any event, The matchbox20 juggernaut continues-the bands album moved up aspot to No.6 on the most recent Billboard chart. The band has its theories on why its music is clocking such big numbers... "The main feedback we get
from people is that they take the album personally. They listen to it and use it in certain parts of their lives. We were playing in NY and we were drivin' to the next town. Me and Paul were looking at each other andgoing...'Man,
three million albums- thats amazing!' We all ran to the front of the bus and listened to the record for the first time in
six months. We were all up there smoking like chimneys and saying...'I dont know if I get it.'"
     Thomas points out that while critics of Rolling Stone blasted the band the magazines readers voted matchbox20 Best New Band.That paradox leads Thomas
to muse: "If thats the way its going to be the rest of my life, if critics
arent going to dig it but music listeners and fans are, I'm fine."
-Taken from a TN newspaper
Thanks Rhonda! violet femme@hotmail.com

A REALLy Good Interview with Adam! (it's really long - so put on your seat belts)

..................................... Rob and Paul on Mtv's News 1515 (paul looks like a FrUiT!!)

*matchbox20 in mtv's 1515 news* thanks again Rhonda!!

(starts out with concert footage of "3AM" . kurt loder, the mtv news correspondent, is doing voice-overs for the piece -- so he's not interviewing them personally.)

RoB tHoMaS: I remember on the first album we got -- it was like 180 or something. We were stoked.

PaUl DoUcEtTe: 198.

RT: Yeah, 198. We were so stoked, we were so happy. We were like "Dude! We're the 198th band in the" you know "on the Billboard charts!"

PD: I called my mom.

(concert footage of "3AM" )

KuRt LoDeR: Actually, matchbox20's first album, Yourself or Someone Like You, debuted at 193 on the chart last March. It's taken a year of non-stop touring and two successive hit singles to push it up to multi-platinum status.

(concert footage of "PUSH")

As the band's popularity expands -- so do the comparisons against other groups.

PD: (They say) we sound like SEVEN MARY THREE, which -- not, not at all. But we're both from Orlando, so people would see our names written together -- so you would have that association. COLLECTIVE SOUL: we have the same producer, so you'd have that association. The HOOTIE thing's been written about, like, so many times -- that people just automatically associate it with that.

RT: And COUNTING CROWS because AdAm DuRiTz is my lover!!! (*lol*)

PD: Yeah, there's that too. And they both have the same hair.

RT: (pointing to his hair) Yeah, see?!

PD: It's not like, you know, we're breaking new sound barriers or whatever. I mean, we just put out a record of songs -- as did those bands. So it's kind of, you can expect why they would compare us to them.

(concert footage of "REAL WORLD")

KL: And it's clearly the songs that are selling this band to a [a word that sounds like virgining, but i know that's not it] herd of fans.

MaLe CoNcErT gOeR 1: It's probably the only group that i've actually liked almost every song on the CD. I mean, they got awesome songs.

FeMaLe CoNcErT gOeR 2: I think people like them because they're a band who really expresses themselves. And we haven't had that for a while.

KL: But does anyone know the names of the guys in the group?

MaLe CoNcErT gOeR 3: No i don't, no.

FeMaLe CoNcErT gOeR 4: No.

FeMaLe CoNcErT gOeR 5: No.

MaLe CoNcErT gOeR 6: I don't know any.

KL: Well, how about the lead singer, then? Everybody must know the singer's name, right?!

FeMaLe CoNcErT gOeR 7: The lead singer! I know his name! What's his
name? Uh, I just think he's HOT!!! "Robert HOT Thomas"

KL: The guitarists maybe? The bass player? Anybody?!

FeMaLe CoNcErT gOeR 8: Appreciation of their music is most important, definitely! Because they are ROCK! WHOO! THEY ROCK! WHOO!

(concert footage of "GIRL LIKE THAT")

PD: Most bands that have, like, a last name ability. You have your, you know, your MICK JAGGER's and your, your KEITH RICHARD's, your CHARLIE WATT's or whatever. And, um -- so it's kind of, it is kind of like a necessity in this business. But at the same time we go out and we play a show, and a majority of people in that crowd are singing every word to every song. And that is a little bit more important.

(concert footage of "3AM")

RT: Yeah, i think that i would definilely much rather have someone know all the words to my songs than be able to see me in a grocery store and know who i am. (oh my gosh!! * I recognize you from somewhere....* Do you need help with that cookie's n' cream ice cream??)

KL: matchbox20 -- that's ROB & KYLE & ADAM & PAUL and BRIAN play Fairfax, Virginia on Tuesday ( I was feeling colorful....)

..................................

An Interview with Rob - sent in by Rhonda

As a performer, what's been your most memorable concert experience?
R: I think one of the coolest ones was the first time we eve played Birmingham. We played Houston, and it was our first show. And the next day, it was in Birmingham. It was a huge room, and there's nothing scarier than a big room. I remember one of the guitar techs coming in and saying "you gotta see this," and there were like 1,000 kids. And every time we go back, its the same way. But we remember that as being the first time that all those people came to see us.

And as a concertgoer?
R: Beck. Without a doubt, the greatest show I've ever seen. We played with him in Dallas, and we went into the middle of the crowd. It was Cowboy Mouth and then us and Ben Folds Five and then Beck. When Beck came on, we just ran to the front and got into the middle of the crowd.

What's the first show you ever attended?
R: I think the first show was when I was real little-- I went to Lee Greenwood in Dallas. The first show I went to because I wanted to go to
was the Genesis Invisible Touch tour.

Where would you most like to perform that you haven't?
R: I really, really, really am looking forward to being able to play at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It's beautiful. We saw Tori Amos there - it just has a regal feel to it.

Finish this sentence. If I hadn't become a performer, I'd be a...
R: I would deliver flowers. What we do is fun because you see a reaction, and when you deliver flowers, everyone you see is happy.

Back to the Main Page